While the Affordable Care Act actually has slowed down the rising cost of premiums, the Republican healthcare bill that repeals it definitely won’t.

And Republican Senator Tom Cotton openly admitted it on Sunday during an interview on CNN.

Ever since House Republicans unveiled their legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act it has been panned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Donald Trump thinks it’s “wonderful,” but the American people are outraged because the bill would strip healthcare from tens of millions and would cause the cost of healthcare to skyrocket, especially among senior citizens and those with low incomes.

The bottom line is that this is a terrible bill that will hurt millions of Americans who need affordable access to health insurance.

Jake Tapper specifically asked Cotton whether he would keep the Medicaid expansion considering he represents Arkansas, one of the poorest states in the nation.

Of course, Cotton seems to think that the only people who get Medicaid are people who are unemployed.

Cotton said that he supports a Medicaid “transformation” bill in which “able-bodied” adults are not allowed to be covered by the program. He basically told them to get a job and pay for their own healthcare. The problem is that many of those able-bodied adults actually do have jobs. They just don’t get paid enough to afford health insurance. And then Cotton admitted that the GOP bill will not bring the cost of premiums down, thus confirming a major problem with the bill

“The Medicaid expansion I think needs to be part of Medicaid transformation and that’s what the House bill moved forward. It can be improved to some degree, but it’s about a 70% or 80% solution, Jake. The bigger problem with this legislation is on the private insurance market. I simply think that it’s not going to work to bring down premiums for working Arkansans or working Americans around the country.”

Here’s the video via YouTube. Cotton’s remarks on healthcare are at the 3 minute mark:

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect but it’s far superior to anything Republicans have offered. Trumpcare will hurt millions of Americans and do nothing to bring the cost of care down. And while the wealthy will get a tax cut from the GOP bill, low income Americans will only be saddled with a financial burden. They would once again live in fear that a major health crisis could leave them bankrupt and homeless. No one should have to live that way.